Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin is ticked off over the US Department of Justice’s accusatory tone, which made it as though Putrajaya was a guilty party in their 1MDB-linked civil suits.

He said their press conference two weeks ago on troubled state investment fund 1MDB was to present the findings of their year-long investigations, but the language used were as though Putrajaya had already been convicted.

"The way they announced (their findings) is as though it was a conviction, as though (those named) are already guilty and to be punished.

"The words used showed as though Malaysia and the government are guilty," Khairy said at the Sepang Puteri and Umno Youth annual assembly last night.

He said this went against the concept of "innocent until proven guilty".

The DOJ had on June 20 announced that it was initiating civil forfeiture suits to seize more than US$1 billion in assets, allegedly obtained using “stolen” 1MDB funds.

Among those named in the lawsuits were Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's stepson Riza Aziz and Penang-born tycoon Jho Low.

The DOJ claimed that the two along with several others, including an unnamed high ranking public servant identified as "Malaysian Official 1", had benefited from over US$3.5 billion allegedly siphoned from 1MDB.

Among the remarks made at that press conference was that Malaysians had been "defrauded on a massive scale".

DOJ findings yet to be proven

Khairy stressed that the DOJ's action had nothing to do with the Malaysian government nor did it directly involve Najib or 1MDB.

He also said those named in the suits would have their day in court to defend themselves against the accusations.

In light of this, he said demands for Najib to quit office were uncalled for.

"The accusations in this investigative findings have yet to be proven, but suddenly there are calls (for Najib) to step down and many more.

"I can’t accept this because this is the government and the prime minister that have the people's mandate."

He added that those who want to change the federal government should wait for the next general elections instead of resorting to foreign meddling or to demonstrations.

As for Umno Youth and Puteri, Khairy said they should "remain loyal and protect” Najib as their party president so as long as he has done nothing wrong.